24 And indeed
they have led many astray. And increase Thou the wrongdoers
in naught but perdition.a

25 Because of
their wrongs they were drowned, then made to enter Fire, so
they found no helpers besides Allah.

26 And Noah
said: My Lord, leave not of the disbelievers any dweller on
the land.a

27 For if Thou
leave them, they will lead astray Thy servants, and will not
beget any but immoral, ungrateful ones.

28 My Lord,
forgive me and my parents and him who enters my house
believing, and the believing men and the believing women.
And increase not the wrongdoers in aught but
destruction!

2.
Commentary:23a.
The names of the idols given
here are those which existed in Arabia in the Prophets
time, and hence some critics call it an anachronism. But it
should be noted that the Holy Quran, while relating
the histories of previous prophets, often introduces the
Prophets own history. The same is the case here. We
have already seen that, while speaking of Noah, the Holy
Quran addresses the Prophets opponents in vv.
1320. V. 21 again speaks of Noah, beginning with the
words, Noah said. Similarly v. 26 begins with the
words, Noah said, showing that in the intermediate
verses there is a reversion to the Prophets own
history, and what is related here is with regard to the
Arabs. Even if these verses be taken as referring to Noah,
there is no anachronism. Look at any idol-worshipping
nation; take the Hindus, for example, and you find the same
names of idols going on through thousands of years. And yet
Arabia was not more distantly situated from the territory of
Noahs people than are any two parts of India from each
other. Moreover, there is reason to believe that the Arabs
obtained most of their idols from foreign countries. Thus
Hubal, the chief Arab idol in the Kabah, "was brought
from Belka in Syria into Arabia by Amr ibn Lohay,
pretending that it would procure them rain when they wanted
it"; Usaf and Nailah are also said to have been
brought from Syria (Sales Preliminary Discourse, sec.
1). There is nothing strange, therefore, in the
circumstances, that the Arab idols were imported from some
ancient nations. According to IAb, the idols of
Noahs people were worshipped by the Arabs, Wadd being
worshipped by Kalb, Suwa by Hudhail, Yaghuth by Murad,
Yauq by Hamadan and Nasr by Himyar (B. 65:lxxi, 1).
The commentators say that Wadd was worshipped in the form of
a man, Suwa in that of a woman, Yaghuth in that of a
lion, Yauq in that of a horse and Nasr in that of an
eagle (Rz). [Back
to verse 23]

24a.They only went on adding wrongs to their wrongs, hence
the prayer of the messenger to increase them in naught but
perdition. In fact, they were bringing perdition on their
heads with their own hands. Dalal means error
as well as loss or perdition (LL).
[Back
to verse 24]

26a.
Noah was speaking only of his own people and praying against
them only. All his statements and prayers refer to them, and
not to the whole world. Hence al-ard simply signifies
the land in which they lived. [Back
to verse 26]